Snap Shots
by Sally97
Summary: ONESHOT Daddy!Charming. AU where Charming goes through portal with Emma. Snap shots of their lives.


**Title: Snap Shots**

Snow White Carefully passes David their baby daughter, after kissing her on the cheek; she leans over and kisses him. David blinks tears from his eyes and leans his forehead against Snow's for a moment.

"You have to go." Snow says, nudging him away from her. "Go David. Look after Emma, give her the life she deserves free of this curse." Her eyes sting with tears, as she grips her stomach in pain.

"I will find you Snow." David promises her, trying to keep the broken sound from out of his voice. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." She says, her lips trembling. "Now go!" David takes one last look at his one true love, trying to instill her image for the next twenty-eight years that he wont be seeing her. He looks down at his daughter in his arms and knows that what he is doing is the right thing. David turns from the room and hurries down the corridor. Behind him Snow screams in pain at the loss of her family and her physical pain. Doc hurries to her side and takes her hand.

"They are going to be fine Snow, just try and relax." He says, applying a cool cloth to her forehead. She closes her eyes and is overcome by heart retching sobs. They rank her body until she can barely breathe.

David stops as several guards step in front of him. He unsheathes his sword and gets ready to attack the Evil Queen's guards. With Emma clutched to his chest he knocks out all the guards with only a minor gash to the arm. He hurries through the doors into the royal nursery and over to the magic wardrobe.

"Here we go Emma." He says, squeezing inside the small space and carefully hugging Emma to his chest. "We are going to be all right." David says, mainly to himself, as he closes the wardrobe doors.

A ringing fills his ears and magical light erupts from all around him. He blinks slowly and looks around to find himself in a partially hollowed out tree. David steps out of the tree and pulls Emma closer to his chest, wary of his surroundings. The forest around him is alive with the sounds of wildlife and David frowns, thinking that he is still in the Enchanted Forest. Until, he hears a thunderous sound coming from behind him. He turns around and walks around the tree. That's when he sees big metal things speeding past him.

"We're not in the Enchanted Forest anymore." He says, looking down at Emma with a mixture of happiness and pain. They are safe, but Snow isn't.

* * *

**2 Years later**

David is lying on a single bed in the small town of Castle Hill, Maine. With a population of 425 people David chose it as the new home for himself and baby Emma. He always joked to himself that he is indeed raising her in a castle, just not the ne he originally thought that he would be. Fatherhood came as an awakening for him. David always saw Snow helping out a lot with parenting, and being by him self is difficult at times. Emma stared walking a couple of months ago and there was no one around to share the joy with.

David watches fondly as Emma puts her favorite toy in her mouth and giggles. He grins back at her. Slowly snow starts falling outside the window and Emma crawls onto David's lap. He puts his paperwork down completely. He is working in the town's Sheriff's department as a desk worker a couple days a week. He worked the late shift, when there was rarely anyone else around, so he could bring Emma with him. She would sleep next to his desk or play with her toys on the floor around the office desks. David mainly worked with two other people, not including the Sheriff. Frank and Sarah. They both had kids and helped David with some of the parenting stuff that he didn't read in books.

"Swanny." David's eyes widen and he looks down at Emma with pride and shock.

"What was that baby girl?" He asks, picking her up and holding her in front of him.

"Swanny." She says, a picture of innocence pointing to another soft toy across the room. She stares back at David with green eyes as beautiful as her mothers. David hugs and starts laughing. His eyes fill with tears of joy as he looks down at her. Emma had finally spoken her first words.

"Swanny." She says again, frowning at her father. "Swany." David grins. He holds Emma close to his chest and gets up off the bed.

"Do you want your Swanny?" He asks, picking the requested toy up off the floor and giving it to her.

"Yay!" She responds hugging the toy and giggling at David. He leans forward and kisses her forehead. He walks them both over to the window. David smiles down at his daughter, and then looks out the window at the snow. He sighs sadly, remembering the mother of his child. Emma's laughter brings him back into a positive mood and he chuckles as Emma starts talking gibberish to her Swanny.

* * *

**3 Years Later – Emma is 5 yrs**

Emma pulls David down the street by his big hand and he chuckles at her eagerness.

"Slow down Emma, we aren't going to be late." He says, trying to calm down his five year-old daughter.

"Come on Dad!" She wines, her blond pigtails bobbing at her movement.

The pair arrive out side the kindergarten and towards the other parents and kids, most of them hiding behind their parent's legs.

"Hello Sarah." David says smiling at his co-worker. "Where are Luke and Tyson?" He asks.

"Hey David. Hey Emma." Sarah replies, smiling at Emma.

"Hi Sarah!" Emma says, excitedly.

"Luke is playing with his friends, cool eight year olds." Sarah says rolling her eyes. "And Tyson is just over there with Jack." She says, pointing to her husband and youngest son just leaving the bathroom.

"Emma is so excited for her first day at school, aren't you honey?" David says, squeezing Emma's hand.

"Yeah, it is going to be so much fun!" She says, grinning up at her Dad.

"Hey David. Hello Emma." Jack says from behind, putting a hand on David's shoulder and smiling at him.

"Hey Jack. Daddy, can I go play with Tyson?" Emma asks, looking up at David with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay sweetie." He replies.

"Yay!" Emma says. Tyson and her run over to the playground and start playing a game of some sort.

"How's work going?" Jack asks.

"Pretty good." David replies, trying to be modest.

"Pretty good my butt." Sarah says, grinning at her friend. "He just got a promotion to deputy."

"Wow. Congrats man. It has come at a good time though, what with Emma just starting school and everything." Jack says.

"Yeah." David replies. A bell goes off and kids scramble inside the classroom doors.

"Better say goodbye to Emma." David says, waving goodbye to Sarah and Jack as Tyson makes his way over to them.

Emma runs over to David and he picks her up in one fluid motion, hugging her tight.

"You have a great day at school sweetheart." He says as she pulls away.

"And you have a great day at the office Daddy." Emma replies. David chuckles and he puts her down.

"See you afterschool, and then we'll go to the dinner and have hot chocolates and cookies." David says, giving Emma one last hug.

"Okay Daddy, I love you."

"Love you too Emma."

Emma runs into her class, but stops at the doorway. She turns around and waves at David. He waves back and she enters the classroom.

* * *

**5 Years Later – Emma is 10yrs**

"Dad! Hurry!" Emma yells up the stairs. David comes hurrying down the steps, taking two at a time. He jumps over the couch and lands in a sitting position. Emma hands him the bowl of popcorn and sits on the other end of the sofa.

"It's just about to start." She says, taking a sip of her soda, her eyes glued to the television screen.

"That was brilliant!" Emma exclaims as the end credits of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

"It was so good!" David replies, getting up and taking out the DVD.

* * *

**6 Years Later – Emma is 16yrs**

The doorbell rings and Emma's eyes widen and she quickly stuffs her phone in her bag and grabs her jacket.

"I've got it Dad!" She yells from the top of the stairs as she tarts running down them to get to the door. Emma hears the door open and her Dad answering it. Damn it.

"You must be Jake." David says. Emma walks into the room and stops when she sees her Dad holding his shotgun while talking to her date.

"Dad!" She says through her teeth. "Shouldn't you be finishing your sheriff work?" Trying to give her Dad a hint.

"I can do that later. Besides I was just talking to your date."

"Um. Hi Emma." Jake says, nervously eyeing her Dad's gleaming gun.

"Hey Jake." Emma replies, pushing her Dad out of the way and stepping outside. "Bye Dad." She calls over her shoulder as she takes Jake's hand in her own.

"See you later Sweetie."

"Bye Mr. Noland." Jake says.

"Bye Jake. Emma back by 10 okay honey?"

"Okay Dad!" She says walking down the path to Jake's car.

The car doors slam shut and Emma turns to her date.

"Well that was stressful." She says grinning at Jake.

"Yeah, your Dad is scary." He replies starting the car.

* * *

**A couple of months later**

Emma bursts through the front door and slams it shut behind her. She leans her back against the wooden door and sinks to the floor, a tear running down her cheek. A loud sob erupts from her crumpled form.

"Emma! Emma what's wrong?" David says hurrying into the hall from the kitchen.

"Nothing." She replies rubbing her eyes with her hand and standing up.

"Emma, you know you can talk to me don't you?" David says to her back as she leaves the room. Emma turns around and more tears fall from her eyes as she throws her arms around her Father's neck.

"Dad." She weeps into his shoulder. David makes cooing noises to calm her down, rubbing circles on her back until she stops crying. "Thanks." Emma says wiping her eyes with a tissue. David leads her to the couch.

"That's alright. But honey, what happened?" He asks, his voice full of concern.

"Jake... Jake cheated on me with Susan Gregford." She says, more tears rolling down her cheek. David pulls Emma into another hug.

"You are way too good for that idiot anyway." He says trying to comfort her. "And you are much prettier than Susan." Emma chuckles and pulls away from her Dad to smile up at him.

"You are the best Dad ever."

"I know." Emma laughs at his response.

"So modest too." She says blowing her nose.

"Hey, do you want to watch Die Hard and eat ice-cream?"

"Yes please!" Emma replies nodding her head. She didn't get why people watched sappy, romantic movies after a break up. Killing and machine guns were more her style.

* * *

**2 Years Later – Emma is 18yrs**

The Doctor sits down next to Emma and gives her hand a squeeze. The tears running down her cheek going unnoticed.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Emma. He was a great man and he loved you so very much." David had been shot while doing sheriff work.

"Thanks Doc." Emma says, her face expressionless as she stares down at her hands.

A young man with curly brown hair runs down the corridor and Emma looks up to see her best friend.

"Emma." He says, his eyes filled with pain and sorrow. Emma stands up and hugs him close. She sobs into her life-long friend's chest. They had been friends since kindergarten and knew each other like the back of their own hand. Tyson's older brother Luke comes up behind them and Emma releases Tyson to hug him.

"Emma, darling." Sarah, Tyson's mother and one of her Dad's closest friends, comes over to her and pulls her into a motherly hug. Emma steps back and Tyson wraps an arm around her shoulders.

"Can you take me home?" She ask Tyson, who nods, steering her out of the hospital where her Dad died.

That night she packed some belongings in a bag, including her family photo album, and left a note for her friends. She caught a bus to Portland. That's where she met Neal Cassidy.

* * *

**10 Years Later – Emma is 28yrs**

**The curse has broken**

"You found me. And you saved us all." Mary Margaret says pulling her daughter into a hug, her eyes filled with tears. Emma's eyes widen and a lone tear escapes her eyes. Mary Margaret pulls back from the, if slightly awkward, reunion hug.

"Where is your Father? Does he even remember me?" Mary Margaret ask Emma whose lower lips starts to tremble.

"He..." Her voice breaks. "He... He died." She manages to say before breaking down at the memory of her Father's lifeless body that she had to ID all those years ago. Mary Margaret's face crumples into a mask of pain.

"H... How?" She asks, wrapping an arm around her stomach.

"He was shot while stopping a robbery." Emma replies, tears streaming down her face. "He was a brilliant father." She says, trying to comfort her long lost mother. "He talked about you all the time. I though they were fairytales, but now I know they were memories." Emma says recalling the tales of adventure he used to tell her as a child.

"Did he ever... remarry?"

"God no." Emma says, with a slight chuckle. "He loved you way too much to ever move on. Said it was true love."

Emma looks up to see her mother's face and her heart, it breaks. Someone who knew how she felt about her Father's death; who understood her pain.

"Mom." She says slowly. Mary Margaret pulls Emma into her arms and they both cling to one another, grieving for the man they both loved like no other.


End file.
